Chapter 113: New Heights.
"He felt that he was being punished. That he was the one to die. To him, it was punishment he was still alive, breathing."
-DemiDemocratik, Let Me Die Young
Fiver, Pipkin and Vilthuril only stopped running at the bottom of the Down, by which point they had caught up with Dandelion and Hawkbit.
-"Who gets the carrots?" Fiver asked.
-"After all this," Vilthuril said, "I think we could all use some carrots. Hazel and the others are probably on their way back to the warren soon with some."
-"What do we do until then?" Dandelion asked.
-"I'll go see how that silly game they're playing underground is going," Hawkbit said.
-"And Fiver, I suppose we could try stamping again, to make the rain come?" Pipkin suggested.
-"Very well," Fiver said, not very enthusiastic, but willing to please his friend.
Hazel and the kittens were hopping along the river, back towards the warren. He was impressed with the way they handled themselves in this situation, having no trouble orienting themselves or keeping a look out for elil. They were really maturing quickly. Just a few more seasons and they would be old enough to take mates. He shuddered at the thought: his brother was one thing, but his children?
His thoughts were interrupted when he spotted a soaking wet carrot on the shore. Unsure what it was doing there, he ignored it, but soon spotted several other pieces of flayrah floating on the river. Nearby, he saw a large piece of wood; it was the boat, but it was upside down, and Hazel did not recognize it. He immediately feared the worse: what if Bigwig and the others had met some grim fate on the river, that he had been unable to prevent because he was guiding his kittens who, it turned out, didn't even need his help?
-"Bigwig? Strawberry? Anyone?"
Hazel desperately jumped into the river, trying to find any trace of his friends. At that moment, Bigwig emerged from the surface, coughing; Strawberry followed soon afterwards.
-"We had a bit of an accident, Hazel," Bigwig said.
-"We still need to find the other three," Strawberry said.
-"The other three? Who else is there, apart from Heather?" Hazel asked.
-"Blackberry and Strawberry," Bigwig said. "We need to find all three of them before they drown."
-"Make that two." Hazel turned around, and saw Blackberry hopping over to them. His fur was extremely wet, but he appeared otherwise unharmed. "I made it to the shore further upstream, any luck finding Strawberry?"
-"He's right there!" Gilia said, pointing to Strawberry, who had just made it back to solid ground alongside Bigwig.
-"I know. I was talking about the other Strawberry. Last time I saw her, she was in the water..."
The rabbits were startled as they heard some noise, not unlike that of a woodpecker, but slower.
-"I'm under here!" came Strawberry's faint voice.
Blackberry moved his ears in various directions, trying to pinpoint the origin of the voice.
-"Sounds like she's under the boat. When it flipped, it fell over her, leaving her in the small air pocket between the bottom of the boat and the surface of the water."
Bigwig, Strawberry and Hazel stared at him, clearly confused by his statement. He sighed: this was not the first time his explanations left other rabbits confused, and it certainly wasn't the last.
-"I'll go rescue her, while you go search for Heather."
Hazel nodded, as he and the others hopped away to do as Blackberry had instructed them.
Heather was eventually located further downstream; while the top half of her body was on the shore, her tail and hind legs were still in the water.
-"Are you all right?" Strawberry asked.
-"I'm fine. But my kittens? I have no idea..."
-"Come on," Hazel said. "We'll guide you back to the warren."
-"The rest of us," Mallow said, "could carry the flayrah."
-"As long as you don't it all on the way!" Snowdrop replied.
-"Hey! I'm not that hungry! Besides, you have been known to devour entire carrots on your own after past raids."
-"A growing kitten needs lots of food!"
Meanwhile at Watership Down, the game of owslafa had resumed. For her own safety, Nelthilta had to be confined to her burrow, which also forced her to retire from the game.
-"It is night again," Flyairth explained. "Unless the healer saves the right rabbit, one of you will be sleeping above ground from now on."
All the rabbits closed their eyes, except the healer, who pointed at the rabbit they were protecting that night. Then, it was the owslafa's turn. Communicating silently through ear and nose movements, they decided who they should dispose of, before stretching out their paws towards their desired victim.
-"You all look like freaks, you know? Just sitting there with your eyes closed, pointing at each other..."
Everyone opened their eyes and stared at the rabbit who had just arrived. Hawkbit was standing just outside a nearby run, looking at the others.
-"I mean seriously," he continued, "first you vote out Bluebell for no reason, and now this. What kind of a game is this?"
-"Speaking of Bluebell," Nyreem said, "are you not supposed to be busy kissing him?"
-"He's taking a nap. I'll kiss him later; until then, I'll stay here and watch."
With that, he lied down in front of the run, staring at the others.
-"Why are you pointing at me?" Hyzenthlay asked, staring at Thethuthinnang further away.
-"Actually, I wanted to point at Hawkbit," Thethuthinnang replied. "But I wasn't really paying attention. I'm sorry."
-"It's all right. There's no harm done. Anyway, do we have any results yet Flyairth?"
-"We do. I'm afraid you're out, Hyzenthlay."
-"Oh." Hyzenthlay looked at the others. "I'm sorry, but you will have to do without the detective from now on. And I'm afraid I don't know who the owslafa is. I do know, however, who the healer is, but I won't tell you, because that would make them the owslafa's next target. Good luck everyone."
She hopped out of the burrow, while the other rabbits looked at each other awkwardly. Everyone seemed to be focusing on Hawkbit; it was clear that his presence was profoundly distracting, a fact that Flyairth quickly noticed.
-"Don't you have some chores to take care of?" she asked him.
-"Chores? What a nasty word. Of course I don't. In this warren, nobody has any 'chores'."
-"Surely there are important tasks to take care of. Like...the flayrah supply. It's getting low, someone needs to restock it. Could you do it?"
-"Hazel and Bigwig are already doing that."
-"In that case why don't you go and help them?"
-"They already have a head start on me. By the time I get there, they might actually be done."
-"The supply burrow isn't in very good condition, you should take care of that then." Flyairth hopped over to Hawkbit; if that didn't get him to leave, she would have to push him out.
-"Oh all right, I'll do it." He grumbled.
-"And when you're done, could you take care of the grass in the direction of the setting sun? It's become really overgrown." There was nothing wrong with the grass; Flyairth merely needed another excuse to keep Hawkbit busy.
-"Fine..."
With that, Hawkbit scurried away. He really didn't fancy cleaning up the flayrah burrow, especially since that might require him to do does' work (digging) again. An idea formed in his mind; he ran to the other side of the warren, where Fiver and Pipkin were stamping loudly with their hind legs.
-"Hazel's got a job for you." The two rabbits' stamping was so loud that they did not hear Hawkbit. He had to resort to shouting:
-"WILL YOU TWO CUT THAT INFERNAL NOISE!"
Now that he had caught their attention, he continued:
-"Hazel wants you to do a very important job."
-"I didn't know he came back," Fiver said.
-"He's not back yet, uh..." Hawkbit was forced to quickly improvise. "He, uh, told me to tell you before he left. You have to clean up the flayrah burrow. You know, enlarging it, and removing the old rotten stuff."
As Fiver and Pipkin hopped underground, Hawkbit chuckled, pleased at his trick. Now, he simply had to find someone to clear the overgrown grass. It was at that moment that he spotted Dandelion further away, in the middle of a conversation with Hannah.
Campion had to stray annoyingly far from the warren to find some grass. Darkhaven seemed to drain the life out of everything: not only vegetation, but also the souls of the rabbits living there. There had to be an answer to all his troubles; he just had to find it.
-"Stay calm and do not startle, I am right behind you."
Campion had become so tense. As soon as he heard the Speaker of the Past's voice, he pounced on her; had they been closer to the edge of the pit, they would have both fallen down.
-"What is wrong with you?" the Speaker said, displaying some rare anger, "I specifically told you not to startle!"
-"Sorry," Campion said weakly, as he hopped off the Speaker's chest and returned to his silflay. "What do you want?"
-"You are under great torment, Campion."
-"I know. But no matter what I do, it doesn't get any better."
-"What you need is friends."
-"Friends would be great, but who in this warren am I supposed to befriend? They're all too busy fighting to build friendships. And please don't suggest Aspen. He's a good rabbit, but he's just not intelligent enough to fully understand what I'm facing."
-"Are the outsiders not your friends?"
-"What about the outsiders?" Campion grew tense. Being a double agent was hard, always having to lie, and keeping track of his lies to avoid contradictions. "Right, I told you didn't I? Well that's part of the problem. Their leader hates me."
-"He most likely does not."
-"If only I could speak with him again. By now, enough time should have passed for us to be able to act logically, rather than let our feelings control our impulses."
-"Such an opportunity may come sooner than you think."
-"That's another problem. How am I supposed to meet with the outsiders? They don't know where I am, so they can't possibly come here. And they live really far away; how can I possibly sneak away long enough to get to their warren, and back, without Woundwort suspecting anything?"
-"Until this can be resolved, you still need a friend. You are overlooking one rabbit."
-"Who would that be?"
-"Me."
Campion remained silent. The Speaker rather creeped him out, with the skull on her head, but she was his only option.
-"All right, we're friends."
-"Good to hear. Now go back to the warren before Woundwort notices: I don't think he would approve of this friendship."